"What the hell is happening?" Reneesh shouted, as all the soldiers formed a circle around us, their weapons off safety. "I told you, Rithvik. Montwik is the mole. The Kenjah knew you guys were coming. He was ready for you and this was the perfect trap. At the far end of the hall, I heard the door hissing open and light flooded the hall. A tall man wearing something which resembled the royal robes worn by kings long ago on Earth, entered the room- the Kenjah was here. I looked around me, searching for Profus. I located him, and his face gave the game away. His hands were crossed and he had a smirk stuck on his face. It was obvious now, Profus and Montwik were in this together. They set all of this up, and led the Vortex and the Crux armies straight into a trap. I realized how stupid we were trusting Montwik with this. I searched for Emanta. She once told us that we could trust Montwik, but with his plan now known to us all, the disturbing idea that Emanta could have also been a part of this, started seeping into my mind. Anna held my hand as we waited in silence. The Kenjah was moving towards us, followed by almost fifty guards who were fully armed. There was no way we could over power them. 

"Do not take one step forward." Captain Holder said, pointing his gun towards the Kenjah. "You're going to shoot me? Go on, do it. You'll have a hundred bullets in your body before you even know it. Stand down, captain. You have rebelled against me, your punishment is coming soon, but before that, we have another important business we need to take care of." the Kenjah replied, grinning. "STOP!" Holder shouted back at him, raising his gun. "If you don't lower that weapon in five seconds, I will order my men to shoot each and every one of you. And after I do that, I will personally make sure that the families of each and everyone of yours will suffer and die. You know I'm not kidding, I never kid." The Kenjah threatened the soldiers, his smile fading away. "Lower your weapons." Holder said after a long pause, looking down at the ground. The soldiers followed the orders without any hesitation, and something tells me they were not ready to take their chances. They knew they would be over powered. "Soldiers, seize their weapons. Take them to their holding cell. And long time no see, my friend." The Kenjah said, looking at Profus. Profus smiled back and walked up to him. "Thanks for setting this up, Profus. Great job." He said, extending his hand out for a handshake. All the soldiers, including Emanta and Holder stared at him, not able to believe what was happening. "You are with him?" Holder asked Profus, who was standing beside Kanjah with his gun slung over his back. "These scumbags don't deserve to live, Holder." He replied, pointing towards us. "Now, I know you better than most of the people here. And I know there is nothing we can offer you to change sides. So, I decided not to try bribing you into joining our side. Have a good day, Captain." He replied, enjoying each and every moment of it. "All of you, put your weapons right here at this spot. And there is no need of frisking. I know exactly what each one of them is carrying. Everyone has just one weapon with them." Profus said. 

The gun which Montwik had given me, the one which was hidden, there was no way Profus could know about that. So, I decided to take my chances. I stepped forward like everyone else and dropped my weapon down to the ground. Two of the Kenjah's soldiers came forward and took them away. "Put all of them in holding cell number two." The Kenjah ordered, motioning his soldiers to move forward. "Hey! Don't touch me!" one of the soldiers yelled, as a soldier beat him up for talking back to him. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY MEN!" Holder yelled at the Kenjah's men, as scuffles began to crop up between the two sides. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, PROFUS! YOU WILL!" Holder yelled, as two soldiers dragged him away. "How could you do this to us, Profus? How could you?" Reneesh asked, as his hands were cuffed by two men. "All is fair in love and war, my friend. Your species know this the best. In fact, we learnt this saying from you. The humans kill their own brethren to satisfy your greed. What different are you from us? We are a superior race. We are the masters and you are the slaves. Stay when we want you to, scuttle away when we don't. Take them." Profus replied, his face now bare of emotions. I was handcuffed and was taken to a holding cell, not far from where we were previously and this one was a lot bigger than the cells Anna and Konrad were kept in. I was relieved that all of us were back together, even though we were being held captive. Dividing us was the last thing I would have liked them to do. 

All of us were sitting down on the floor, in a circle facing each other. "Is there anything we can do, Captain?" I asked Holder, who was lost in his thoughts. "Honestly, I don't know whom to trust and whom not to. But here it goes, right before we launched, Montwik called me up to his quarters  and said that we needed to broadcast an 'All Okay' message back to Beta One at regular intervals. Now, obviously with them confiscate our gear, we cannot broadcast anything back to Beta One. Now that means, if the base does not hear from us for a long time, they will suspect something is wrong. And if we are lucky, they will send out a search party. And now all the humans are here together except one, and also Captain Rithvik and Reneesh are here with us, I think the possibility that they would send out a search party seems more likely. Like it or not, you are valuable assets to both the parties." He replied. "I think we have something you need to hear, Holder." I said. "Konrad, tell Holder what you told me about Montwik." I instructed. Holder and the rest of the soldiers listened to it till the end, with some of the soldiers shaking their heads in dismay. "That is some serious stuff right there. Now that we know it, there are two possibilities. We know the Kenjah, he is an expert manipulator. He must have bluffed for all we know. But second, if whatever the Kenjah said is true, then we are in a very tight fix. Without Montwik, we would not have one leader. Bolius and the other leader of the Crux Army simply do not have the time to take control of the reigns. We would be doomed if that is the case. But before this, Konrad, can you tell us what exactly they did to you all these days?" Holder asked him. "Nothing much actually, they took over our flight using some technology, brought us down here, and after that Kenjah told us Montwik was the mole, but yeah something other than that happened. I was about to tell you, but crap happened. Soon after we were brought here, they took Anna and me into a medical room, sedated us, and gave us what they called a drug which would help us adapt to the atmosphere. I tried asking them more but they would not budge." He said, before Holder cut him off. "Hold on a sec. A drug to adapt to Photrox's atmosphere?" He asked. "Yeah, that is what they said. Why?" Konrad asked him back. 

"We have had massive intel on that wing of the medical team. No such drug exists. But what does exist, and is a fairly new invention done after this whole war has started, is a drug which can help them control your bodies. Nano chips in your bloodstream." Holder said, in a grave voice. "You are telling me they can control the both of us?" Anna asked, her voice trembling. "I'm not sure, but there is a possibility they did." Holder replied, standing up.

"Well, shit." Reneesh replied, as Anna broke down at this news. 

***

Sorry guys! I was gone for so long! Had my final exams going on and was busy with them! Now that I have holidays, new updates guaranteed! Hope we can bring this book back alive again! See you guys!

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